Albino Oscar

[Trudy the Super Oscar]

Hi, I have an albino tiger oscar. As he gets bigger he's wanting to be in the dark more and more. He seems to be sensitive to even small amounts of light. I only have minimal lighting in his tank but the only time he'll swim around and enjoy himself is when I turn all the lights off and its really dark in the room. Otherwise he spends pretty much the whole day just floating in one spot. Has anybody else noticed this with their albinos? Could it be because of his pigmentation or is my Oscar just a weirdo? I love the little guy but I sure wish he'd stop being so fussy about everything.

 

[drobbins27]

I think hes just a shy Oscar. In my experience, which isnt much, Oscars seems to be attention loving, free-willed fish who love swimming around and showing off

 

[Doggfather]

i agree, he does sound a bit shy

 

[Sorrell]

From all the Oscars I've had I've noticed that they tend to be dramatic. I never had one that didn't like the light, but mine would do things like laying on the bottom of the tank heaving when I would siphon their gravel and go back to swimming as soon as I got my hand out of there. I just kind of think that they're drama queens.
One thing that you could try would be to only light half the tank and cover the dark end with a blanket or dark paper or something to keep part of it dark. It might turn out that if he has a sanctuary he can return to that he'd feel safer out in the light.

 

[Trudy the Super Oscar]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've put a piece of paper under the light to block most of it so its dim in the tank and he seems to like it a lot better. I know what you mean about drama though. They can sure act like they're dying if you annoy them then the moment you stop they're fine and back to normal. And lazy!! My fish has to sleep a good ten hours or he won't move. He sits on the bottom of the tank till at least noon when he feels like getting up. Nobody can ever say these fish don't have personality!

 

[LoveMyOscar]

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[Trudy the Super Oscar]

Yeah you're right about that. I was never under the impression that he was a true albino since hes always been more of a yellow/pinkish color. Also, as he got older his fins got darker around the edges. I've come to the conclusion that hes just really shy and stuff. It doesn't take much to scare him and we've already discussed that he doesn't like the lights. Well I guess I can just attribute that to the fact that these little guys have personality. Thats my best guess.

 

[LoveMyOscar]

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[AquaUK]

agree with the folks above oscars are such fish that they choose what they want to do.


Mine will eat and eat for England if allowed but if my brother goes near the tank they wont come out till hes gone.

 

[drobbins27]

agree with the folks above oscars are such fish that they choose what they want to do.


Mine will eat and eat for England if allowed but if my brother goes near the tank they wont come out till hes gone.

 

[cometcattle]

Ive never owned an oscar but they sound cool. Theyre almost like aquatic dogs.
But you dont have to walk them.

 

[julia]

8) As albino & lutino Oscars have very little pigment their eyes are sensitive to light , I have found the best all round solution is to us a moonlight tube, or any night viewing light , they are brilliant for catfish too. B)

 

[missyintx_99]

Good info about the lutino! We just purchased a baby O that the lfs was calling an albino tiger. But he has far to many small black spots coming out on him for me to believe he was truely an albino. When we first brought him home, he would run and hide when I approached the tank, but within a couple of days, he learned that I was the lady with the food and he now dances in the front of the tank just like my red Oscar does. The new baby o is living in a 20gal Long grow out tank with 2 baby green terrors until they are big enough to move into my bigger tanks with the bigger cichlids! I just adore my Oscars!
And yes, they are the wet equivilant of a puppy dog!

 

[drobbins27]

What size are your tanks missyintx_99? And whats in them?

 

[SomaticDelusions]

I don't know if you are still reading this at this point but I will throw in my two cents worth anyhow. I used to have 2 albino (or as mentioned above - lutino's) and 2 tiger oscars each grew to about 10-13 inches. My favorite one was the largest albino, his name was poindexter, and I spent alot of time with my hand in the tank, and I mean a few times a day. After he started coming up to me and investigating then I got the idea that I would start trying to feed him by hand. So, I would hold feeders by the tail and lower them into the tank. Within two weeks Poindexter was eating straight from my hand to the point that we kind of played tug-o-war. I stopped feeding him by hand one day when he got overly-excited after seeing the cup I kept the feeders in just before dinner time. Poindexter thought he would get the jump on me in our little "war" and accidently jumped clean out of the tank. I panicked and grabbed him immediately to put him back in the tank. Surprisingly, immediately after I had him in my hand, he did not flop or struggle at all. After that Poindexter would "strut" around the tank like he knew that he was king sh*t. All that to say this . . . they have amazing personality, until you know them, you have no way of knowing them.